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2
of age, illness, disability or other reasons,
are unable
to share in the general prosperity. It is for this reason
that a responsible govenment must provide adequate social
services to ensure that the less fortunate members of our
society are properly cared for. It does not seem to me to
be unreasonable that a significant proportion of the
fruits of Hong Kong's prosperity should be used for this
purpose.
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B.
Mr. Stephen Cheong proposed that means-testing
· should be used to ensure that help is concentrated on
those who really need it. We do of course means-test the
provision of some services, particularly those where cash
payments are involved, such as Public Assistance and the
fee assistance scheme for day nurseries, but we have to
remember that means-testing is often difficult and
expensive to administer, and therefore is not always
cost-effective.
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Medical and Health Services
بھر
Several members made particular reference to the
undoubted fact that the cost of providing medical
services, particularly hospital services, is rising more
rapidly than that of other social services and faster than
the general rate of inflation. This is a problem which is
facing health adminstrations throughout the world and
which was brought out in the Scott Report on the hospital
system. The consultants suggested that there might be a
a case-for--some adjustment to the proportions of the cost